Chapter 5:
The maid quickly approached and fixed up Rosaline, who had picked up the bread that had fallen to the floor. The maid then proceeded to tidy up the tablecloth. Her movements were so natural, like a person who was only concerned about the crumpled tablecloth from the beginning. It was a swiftness that came from taking care of Rosaline, who had been in poor condition for several days.
Edelweiss thought, ‘Was the thing I just witnessed real? Did she merely play some bad joke?’
Then she blinked her eyes quickly. She tried to deny it, but she was sure that her daughter just picked up and ate bread that had fallen on the floor. She even ate it delightfully.
“…Rose?”
Rosaline gnawed at the bread she had picked up and swallowed it. She then wiped her mouth with a napkin and replied with a rather arrogant expression.
“Yes?” she answered Edelweiss. Her etiquette was 100 out of 100.
***
Calyx borrowed the words of Alter and the maids to explain that his sister had become less intelligent and a little funny in the head. Edelweiss looked more and more confused.
“Less… If one becomes less intelligent… Will anyone who becomes a little less intelligent… and is a bit funny in the head… pick up food that they dropped on the floor and eat it?”
‘Of course, they won’t.’ Calyx picked out so many words and discarded as much information as possible to alleviate his mother’s shock. ‘She hurt her head, so her behavior won’t be the same. The doctor said Rosaline’s original self should return soon.’
Edelweiss wept and hugged Rose tightly, “Our poor Rose… Even though she’s not beautiful, she’s a smart kid, so I was relieved, but now her face and head…”
“… No, don’t go that far… Mother…”
All of Edelweiss’s plans to proceed with the engagement while Rosaline was at home were thwarted. With tears in her eyes, Edelweiss ordered a servant to return the engagement jewel gifted by the earl. Edelweiss couldn’t marry out a child who would pick up food that had fallen on the floor. She had thought Rosaline was merely physically ill, but apparently, she was also mentally ill. It was truly unimaginable.
“Does your father know?”
“… He knows that her head was slightly injured.”
“Our Rose is a little bit… That…”
Edelweiss picked the best words as she watched her daughter continue to eat.
“What made her a little less intelligent…?”
Everyone was putting off the exact expression that she had become ‘crazy’ or ‘lacking’ in the head. Calyx shook his head quietly. Edelweiss wiped her forehead with her dry hand while muttering some nonsense and looking confused before she went back to her room to rest.
Edelweiss and Calyx only ate a little, but many plates showed their bottoms thanks to Rosaline’s great appetite. She even cleaned up the cake that came out for dessert. In the distance, the mansion’s cook was looking at her with happiness. It was the expression of a grandfather looking at his grandchild playing. Calyx took a deep breath. The lengthy mealtime was over.
After a hectic luncheon, Calyx, who was diligently playing with his hands at the antique wooden table, was handed a roll of paper from Alter. The amount of gathered data was small.
Alter snorted at Calyx’s surprised expression, “What do you think this is?”
“…The materials I asked for?”
“This is my blood, sweat, and tears.”
Calyx ignored his nonsense as Alter blabbered ignorantly, saying that this was the best he could do… When Calyx ordered Alter to investigate, he had asked someone with such skills that Alter could even know what color of underwear someone had thrown away three years ago. He had specially requested this to Alter, which meant that this matter was difficult to understand and contained unknown information.
Alter’s expression when he first received the order was truly remarkable. It seemed too unnatural for a mature young lord to investigate absurd ghost stories that usually only come out of children’s mouths. Or perhaps his expression turned that way because he was asked not to dirty his own hands or go through the information guild. In any case, it was the fate of a subordinate to obey the master.
And Alter found out while collecting the information that this absurd order was not simply trying to quench Calyx’s curiosity. He became enlightened in an instant. It was evident that his master was seeking the truth about something.
Calyx read the material word by word, spending a long time scrutinizing the short chapter he could have read in ten minutes.
Alter looked at Calyx’s ever-changing expression. Calyx raised his eyebrows and brushed his hand over his chin wildly. As he read the last words, Calyx rubbed his forehead and breathed heavily.
The material was [When Entering the Deep Forest You Will Be Eaten By the Shadows]. It started with a famous myth. It was also something he had heard a lot as a child. Merely a measure to prevent naughty children from climbing up into the mountains. Calyx had thought so too. However…
[Many people used it to warn children of the mountains. It is assumed that the ferocious beasts and the dangers of the mountains are expressed as a single shadow.]
[The ghost story has a slightly different version in each territory and region.]
[If you enter the deep forest, you will be eaten by the shadows.
The shadows of the forest move when a person is not looking.
There is a shadow that mimics people in the deep forest.
The shadow of the forest speaks.]
[What these stories have in common is the identification of places called ‘deep forests’ or ‘places untouched by humans,’ and the confirmation of the existence of a ‘shadow’.]
And on the paper, there was a story of someone who had witnessed that shadow.
[Alder Parter: 66-year-old herbalist. 23 years ago, deep in the Lanshub Mountains, he fell from a cliff while collecting herbs.]
.
.
.
“It was lunchtime when I passed out, but when I woke up, the morning sun was rising. I didn’t have the energy to get up, so I just laid down and watched the lush forest… That was when it appeared.”
“?”
“It’s the shadow. The shadow I heard about only from senior herbalists. I thought they made it up to scare people, but it must have been… It was different from seeing a mere hungry beast. My hands and feet trembled, and I felt chills all over my body.”
“?”
“At first, I thought it was just an ordinary shadow of a tree. The depths of the dense forest are as dark as the deep sea… But as I was watching, someone was moving in the darkness, very slowly, slower than perhaps a 100-year-old man, slower than a snail… It came through the morning mist. It was such an eerie and frightening sight.”
“?”
“Well, I’ve never heard of such a magical beast, but it’s a popular story among herbalists. There’s a shadow that smells death. They said if you see it, you know that death is nearby. So I looked around at that time, and apparently, I was the only one closest to dying. I guessed it came to me because it smelled me.”
“…”
“It was as if it was waiting for me to die. It just stood there by my side and looked down at me. So, I ate those precious herbs, chewed them on, and did all sorts of things to survive. Fortunately, after two or three days, the bleeding stopped, and the swelling in my leg, where I placed a splint, had subsided a little. Ah, I thought I was going to live now. Then the thing at my side that kept looking down at me slowly disappeared into the forest!”
“…”
“It’s real! Exactly 23 years ago! I remember it as vividly as if it was yesterday!”
“?”
“Hyaa, anyway, even thinking about it now makes me scared. Oh right, I had also wondered why they call it the ‘shadow.’ Perhaps because its whole body was black…”
“?”
“But, apparently, it’s because when it first approaches, it looks like black smoke, doesn’t it?”
“?”
“However, after a few days, it looked just like a human being. It didn’t have any facial features, but its shape so resembled mine that I thought it was my shadow.”
“…!”
***
On ordinary days, Count Radwiell had a lot of visitors. This was because the current Count gained great trust from the Emperor of Illavenia for his outstanding performance. Also, the territory itself was large and wealthy, so many merchants came and went.
That hot popularity didn’t just cool off overnight, so this had become a bit of a headache. The Count, who had a history of serving as commander-in-chief in major wars, had a big say in military meetings. So, many visitors were curious about what was written in the correspondence between Count Radwiell and his son. Three or four people disguised as guests would sneak in at a time and try to sneak the letters out.
However, there was nothing special about the contents of their correspondence. This was because it’s written in consideration of what spies from other countries or territories would see.
[How are you? I like venison these days. The light-blue peacock cries weakly and mechanically. They said it learned it from a street cat, isn’t it strange?] It was just useless information like that. It was irrelevant to anyone looking at it, and it was impossible for spies to glean information.
When Calyx appeared on the balcony, a patrolling knight signaled that a man had entered the office. Calyx grabbed his sword and moved cautiously. As he opened the door and entered, he drew his sword and aimed it at the person’s neck in front of him. The window had been opened by the uninvited person. The wind that blew through the gap pushed the curtains away, and moonlight permeated through the dark room.
“!”
In front of the window was revealed the silhouette of a woman with waist-long dark hair. Calyx’s eyes shook as their eyes met. It was the familiar face of the one he called sister, who often walked in the garden during the day. The woman blinked as if Calyx’s action of breaking through the door and his threats were nothing.
